All about
Our Supply Chain
Because how we make our product matters
Cut & Sewn in Oregon
All our cotton garments are cut and sewn in Hillsboro, Or at Evergreen Apparel Mfg., a Minority Woman-owned factory only 7 miles from our HQ in Portland. We love our regular visits there. It's relatively small, but technically advanced with a very skilled staff. The same 4-5 people work on all our garments for the best consistency. We are really grateful for our partnership with a factory that does such high quality work and shares our values!
Our binding is cut at Bias & Sewing in Seattle, WA.
Our Swim line is cut in house and sewn by a contract sewist, Pasion’s Sewing & Alteration in Salem, OR. Pasion works for herself and does beautiful and exacting work. She sets her own per-piece rates and hours.
Original Prints
We collaborate with textile artists to design all of our uniquely Thunderpants-y prints. We mostly work with textile designers from the PNW and around the US, but also use some of the same prints as TPNZ by Auckland based artist Greta Menzies. We do about 5 new prints a year and they are all limited edition runs that last 5-12 months. You can learn more about our incredible talented illustrators here.
If you’d like to talk to us about working on a designer together click here.
Our fabric is expertly roller printed using water based inks at Uniprints in Los Angeles, CA.
Our handprints are dyed/painted/printed in house by Kanda and Celeste or by some very talented textile artists also found here.
US Knit Fabric
Our OCS and OEKO-TEX certified organic cotton/spandex fabric is custom knit at Fairway Fabrics in Los Angeles, CA to our exact specifications. It is sturdy, very stretchy, and has great retention -to give our undies just enough stretch and bounce back to stay up and on. The organic cotton thread is from Indonesia and Spandex is from South Korea. We use nylon and/or poly thread imported from South Korea. We use nylon/poly so all our garments have enough stretch and strength to stretch with the fabric without breaking or constricting movement.
We are working on sourcing the cotton yard a little closer to home, but the US cotton supply chain is extremely complicated and fractured, so it’s been frustratingly difficult so far. As a small company it’s really hard to get it just right, but we are always moving towards the best possible product for you, for the people in our supply chain, and for the planet. We do have a new line of products coming soon using California grown Climate Beneficial cotton soon too!!
Our swim fabric is made with Econyl® regenerated nylon yarn made from nylon waste like fishing nets, fabric scraps, carpet flooring, and industrial plastic and knit in Italy.
The wonderful Gurusurya Khalsa
Our Photographer
The wonderful Gurusurya Khalsa does all the product photography for Thunderpants USA. We often use models who have no previous experience (many are real Thunderpants customers) and Gurusurya has a gift for making everyone look and feel wonderful in their bodies. She creates such a safe and loving environment for everyone, and we are so grateful for the care she takes.
Not only is she Thunderpants USA's only photographer, she also helps collaborate with us on styling, print ideas, new products, and more. We truly wouldn't be the company we are today without her!
You can find more of Gurusurya's work on her website, plus take a look at any photo on our website or Instagram.